Chris Arreola is America’s best heavyweight. Eddie Chambers is close behind. That’s the verdict in the fifth poll of an elite group of matchmakers and others with in-depth knowledge of boxing.

The panelists were asked what would happen if sixteen of the leading American heavyweights fought each other. This is about now; not how good a fighter was two years ago or how good he might be in the future. In reality, a round-robin tournament of this nature could never happen. It would require unmakeable matches and 120 separate fights. But thirteen of the most knowledgeable people in boxing agreed to predict the outcome of these fights.

The electors were evenly split on a match-up between Arreola and Chambers, with six panelists choosing each fighter and the last panelist saying that the match is too close to call. By and large, the older fighters fared poorly in the poll.

A statistical breakdown of the polling results can be seen by clicking here.

In four previous Boxing Industry polls, Sergio Martinez was ranked as the #1 middleweight in the world, Chad Dawson reigned at 175 pounds, Floyd Mayweather topped the list at 154 pounds, and Manny Pacquiao headed the field at 147 pounds.

Thomas Hauser can be reached by email at thauser@rcn.com. His most recent book (And the New...: An Inside Look at Another Year in Boxing) will published by the University of Arkansas Press later this summer.